Film Times & Capsules

The Patience Stone

Somewhere in some war-torn Middle Eastern country, a dedicated young wife (Golshifteh Farahani) tends to her much older husband (Hamid Djavadan) who has been injured in a Jihadist attack. While her militant Islamic husband lays in a coma, the wife unburdens herself, spilling secrets about her childhood, her suffering, her frustrations, her loneliness and her dreams. In the process the paralyzed man becomes the mythical "patience stone," a magical object capable of absorbing the burdens and miseries that are told to it. Farahani is amazing, carrying this entire feminist fable on little more than the sound of her voice. But the film isn't much more than an extended monologue. 103 minutes R. (Opens Friday 9/27)